The Truth in the Actions
by Mezzo187
Summary: These are my thoughts on two "missing" scenes from "The Doctor in the Photo."  Booth was there to save Brennan-how did he happen to be there?  And what was he thinking when he got home after dropping her off?  Obvious spoilers for 6.09.
1. Chapter 1

The Truth in the Actions

**A/N:** _These are my thoughts on some "missing" scenes from "The Doctor in the Photo." One of the things about that episode that gave me more hope is that Booth was there to save Brennan. But how did that come about? And how did Booth react to the situation after he left Brennan at her place?_

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* * *

_Chapter 1: The Intuition about his Partner

Booth got up from his desk in his office at the FBI. He couldn't concentrate on the pile of paperwork waiting for his attention, so he started to pace.

_What was going on with Bones? Ever since this case started, something has been off about her. She snapped at Hannah, after Hannah had noticed something was wrong with Bones. Why hadn't I noticed before? Bones said she hadn't been sleeping much… Has she been working nonstop at the lab? When we were talking to that helicopter pilot, she mentioned finding something in the remains that she hadn't told me about first. What is happening? Why do I feel like something is going terribly wrong?_

"Because you've been avoiding her instead of taking care of her like you used to, you idiot," he said to himself with exasperation, not realizing he had said it out loud until he noticed Charlie standing in the doorway of his office looking at him strangely.

"Booth?" Charlie asked tentatively. "Is everything OK? It's getting kinda late—maybe you should call it a night." Charlie had noticed many changes in his superior since Booth had returned from Afghanistan. Although he tried not to pry into other people's lives, he was surprised that Dr. Brennan didn't seem to come around much anymore. But, he had also been surprised when Booth returned to town with a girlfriend in tow—a girlfriend that seemed to contradict Charlie's instincts about where the senior agent's affections had seemed to be aimed.

It took Booth a moment to realize Charlie was talking to him and process what the agent had said. "You're right, Charlie. I should head home." But instead of returning to his chair and neatening up his desk, Booth resumed his pacing. "You know, I think I should go check on Bones. She's been working this case pretty hard—she probably needs someone to kick her out of the lab."

Booth still seemed to be talking to himself, but Charlie decided to answer, hoping to spur Booth into real action instead of continued pacing. "Yeah, boss, sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe she has some more information on the case." Booth stared at Charlie again, only partially processing that he must have spoken aloud again and the agent was responding to his internal thoughts.

Charlie waved, and said, "Goodnight, Booth. See you tomorrow." Then he left the office, although he waited nearby to see if Booth did the same. Sure enough, a few second later, Booth hurried out of his office, shrugging into his coat as he impatiently called the elevator. Once Booth disappeared from sight, Charlie glanced into Booth's office and smiled. Booth hadn't bothered to clean up the mess on his desk. Hopefully talking to Dr. Brennan would help calm some of the restlessness Charlie had seen on Booth's face lately.

* * *

Booth's sense of foreboding was amplified as he drove toward the Jeffersonian in an ever-increasing rainstorm. _I bet she hasn't eaten all day_, he thought to himself. _How did I get so wrapped up in my own life that I forgot to take care of my partner? What kind of friend have I been to her lately?_

As he prepared to turn into the parking structure, Booth saw a familiar figure exit the building and get into a waiting cab. _Wait a minute, that's Bones! Why is she taking a cab instead of her car?_ He decided to follow the cab, just to be sure she was going home to get some rest. _Maybe she decided not to drive in today_, he guessed, trying to push away the thoughts about how often he used to drive her around—and how long it had been since he had given her a ride.

Booth soon realized that the taxi was not heading towards Bones' apartment. Booth hoped he was wrong in his speculation about the destination, but when the cab pulled over to discharge its passenger in the vicinity of their latest crime scene, Booth knew he had been correct. _Why did Bones come out here, this late at night? And she didn't even call me to come with her? Or anyone else? Did she really think I wouldn't help her with the case?_

Booth broke out of his reverie as he pulled his car over to the curb and parked, not caring whether he was parked legally or not. His eyes were glued to the outline of his partner, partially obscured by the darkness and the rain. She was wandering into the street, apparently focused on something that he didn't see. She knelt down to examine a point in the middle of the road. He saw the approaching headlights of a car, and he was appalled when she didn't seem to react to the looming threat. His instincts took over as he ran towards her, calling out his name for her as he pulled her out of the path of the car and deposited them on shaky legs by the side of the street.

"Bones! What are you doing here?" Booth shouted above the sound of the rain and his own thundering heart, a mixture of fear and anger in his voice.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Brennan shouted back, angry at herself for getting lost in thought and needing someone to save her again.

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**A/N: **_Next chapter, what I think might have happened after Booth returned home from dropping Brennan off at her place._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _Although Booth clearly tried to keep his emotions neutral while in the car with Brennan, how did her latest brush with death really affect him?_

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_Chapter 2: The Omen (?) in the Outburst

After Booth dropped Brennan off at her apartment, he tried to sort out his emotions before he reached his own place. _**Now**__ she realizes she made a mistake_. _What I am supposed to do about this now? She looked more emotionally honest and vulnerable than I've ever seen her, and I just left here there, alone. Because she asked me to, and because I can't comfort her the way I would like to, the way I should, because I'm not free. _He laughed bitterly. _She doesn't want me to, anyway. She'll be 'O.K.' she said. How can she be O.K. if she won't let anyone help her?_

His thoughts were still swirling around the events and conversation of the last thirty minutes when he walked into his apartment. Hannah was sitting up, apparently waiting for him to come home.

"Seeley, I thought you would have been home a while ago," Hannah said, her concern clearly evident in her voice. Then she noticed his stormy expression and became more worried. "What happened? Why are you so wet?" He was clearly soaked but didn't seem to be aware of that fact.

Hannah's voice snapped him out of his trance. _Hannah, _he sighed inwardly,_ why do things need to be so complicated?_ "What happened? I'll tell you what happened." The anger in his voice grew as he remembered what he had saved his partner from earlier in the evening.

"Bones decided to go down to Woodland, _by herself_, at night and in the rain, to try and solve the case. She was looking at something in the street, and she didn't even notice that a car was heading straight for her! How could she be so careless!" The dominant emotion he had felt when he saw her in danger was gut-wrenching fear, but it was easier to be angry with her, especially after what she had said to him in the car afterward.

Hannah was surprised by the fierceness of his emotion toward Brennan and was momentarily speechless.

Booth continued his rant: "You'd think she was a little kid, always getting into trouble, never paying attention when she could get hurt! Parker knows not to hang out in the street, especially at night when it's raining, and he's only 10!" Booth was shaking his head now, the possibilities of what might have happened if he hadn't been there only increasing his anxiety.

Hannah could see that Booth was clearly upset, and perhaps not only by tonight's incident. She reached a tentative hand out to touch his forearm. He shrugged off her attempt at comfort.

"One of these days or nights she's going to get herself into trouble and I'm not going to be there to pull her out! Then what's she gonna do?" He tried to keep the rising fear out of his voice, and partially succeeded.

"Booth!" Hannah almost shouting, bringing his attention back to her. "You need to calm down. Relax—you were there to save her." Booth looked at his girlfriend, realizing that he was making a spectacle of himself in front of her. He allowed her to put her hand on him now, accepting her calming presence. "You took care of your partner. It's one of the things I love about you." She smiled up at him, hoping his emotions were now spent—it was getting late and she needed to get some sleep.

At her use of the word 'partner,' Hannah thought she saw an almost haunted look creep into Booth's eyes. "But have I really been a good partner to her lately?" Booth asked, his voice now devoid of anger and filled with sadness and regret. "Maybe if I had been more observant about how much this case was affecting her, and checked up on her more often, she might not have gone down there alone."

Hannah considered this, wondering how she could respond to make him feel better. This was the most emotion he had shown regarding Brennan in some time. "Seeley, you've told me that she does her work in the lab, and you do your thing at the FBI—and if she needs your help she calls you. There's no way you could know what she's doing all the time—that would be impossible."

Hannah stopped, pondering what she had just said. _If Temperance hadn't called him, how had he been there to save her from the car?_ She looked at Booth, seeing a level of sadness in his eyes which had not been present since he had left Afghanistan. _I knew he cared about his partner, his friend, but this level of emotion is usually associated with someone you love._

"How did you happen to be there, to pull her out of the street," Hannah asked, trying to keep her tone neutral and not display the tug of jealousy she was starting to feel.

If Booth heard anything in her tone, he didn't acknowledge it as he answered matter-of-factly: "I realized she had been acting oddly, even for her, and remembered that she'd said she hadn't been sleeping much, so I was on my way to the Jeffersonian to check on her." His eyes got a far-away look as he remembered how he had felt leaving the FBI building, a sense of urgency building in chest. "When I saw her come out of the building and get into a cab, I wanted to follow her to make sure she was going home."

Hannah had never believed in premonitions—she was like Dr. Brennan and far too practical for that kind of nonsense—but it certainly sounded as if Booth had had some kind of feeling that Temperance had needed him. She shook off that notion as being ridiculous—it was just as Booth had said: he had observed several deviations in Brennan's normal behavior and decided to check up on her, like any good friend would.

"Let's go to bed. I'm tired, and we both have lots to do tomorrow," Hannah said, drawing closer to Booth and putting her arm around his waist. "Oh, you're still wet!" she commented.

Booth looked down at his sodden clothes as if seeing them for the first time. "Yeah, I guess I am. Why don't you go to bed, and I'll take a warm shower and put on some dry clothes." He gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head before leaving her staring at him as he went into the bedroom. Hannah had hoped to do some more comforting of her boyfriend before they went to sleep, but Seeley's mind was clearly elsewhere.

_Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow_, Hannah thought to herself and she climbed into bed. But in the back of her mind she started to think about all the ways in which Brennan and Booth had an atypical relationship for people who claimed to be only friends and work partners. Her last thought before drifting off to sleep was that she should use her investigative skills to look more closely into Seeley's relationship with his 'partner.'

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**A/N:** _If Hannah is as good a reporter as she claims to be, surely she'll start putting the pieces together about the true nature of Booth and Brennan's partnership? Thoughts, anyone? Thanks.  
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End file.
